Twinning is a unique, well-written story, but I'm not sure where it's going, in either timeline. Taylor doesn't have major goals, she's just wandering from one event to another. While the first timeline turns fairly light and hopeful, the other goes dark and depressing, but neither really holds my interest.

They're fairly short, though, so who knows what will happen in the future. 4/5.

 

For another little short story, I've been reading constellations which is an Okami crossover. It's nice and kinda heartwarming so far where Taylor just tries to rebuild a shrine in ABB territory.

It's by the same guy who did the bloodborn crossover.

 

Isn't that the point though? The story goes wherever Taylor's whims take her. In one story, the author seems to be taking her towards associating with the Undersiders. In the other, she's going full psycho...I could see her with Jack, creating the grandest of art.

 

Sure, but I don't find it interesting to read.

 

Twinning seems fun and it is more about character interaction anyway, than any big plot. It's obviously going to meander out at some point when the author has no more scenes in their head and I really doubt it will be finished but then again, it's not really a story that needs to be finished, at least so far.

3.5/5, quite like it.

 

Yeah, this will be the dropped timeline.

 

Regarding Burn Up
I can't decide whether it's actually good or not, but it's interesting, the author is being creative with the writing style to show a Taylor that's mentally unstable, which won't be to everybody's taste, but I think it worked well here.

The pacing is a bit unusual, it quickly ramps up in intensity, and then Taylor spend the rest of the story coming down from that, pulling herself together, and in general being more chill, there's a tad of Hurt/Comfort over it, but not to an aggravating degree.
And it's genuinely funny a few times, one of my favorites was the ubiquitous mention of Armsmaster underwear that also popped up in this story when meeting the heroes, a bit quirkily described in Taylor's thoughts:

Oh, and it is a story that is actually finished now.

 

The best thing you can say about Burn Up is that it is finished.

It starts a bit on the camp and wild side and it's funny. Sell Victoria's clothing to Amy type of deal. Then it gets more serious with her talking to Victoria and her fighting the PRT. Then it gets dark with her murdering a ton of rando's. Then she gets saved by the Undersiders and it gets chill. Also Taylor is OP.

That tonal shift is not handled well in the writing at all. I would say only the first chapter or two really had writing to go with the tone properly. Then it feels like the story just goes its own direction without really being planned by the author. I don't feel like it works to the authors writing style.

 

I made something after reading another frustrating Alt Power fic.

 

Isn't the incest thing canon? I mean, I kinda remember wildbow saying Amy's love for Victoria was catalyzed by the aura.
And if Taylor joins the Wards, she will learn their identity. You cannot have a Ward Taylor fic without her learning Sophia is Shadow Stalker.

 

I always liked the Aura caused the incest haha

---------- Post automerged at 07:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:26 AM ----------

Catalyzed sure. Iirc it's left very ambiguous whether Amy was a lesbian initially or if her brain got completely whammied.

 

It's my headcanon that Amy isn't so much heterosexual or homosexual, as she is Glory-sexual.

I thought that Wildbow did say that the attraction was due to Vicky's aura throughout Amy's puberty, but I may be misremembering.

 

I always thought it was a bit of a cop out.

I liked the interpretation that it was the combination of the loveless (and slightly resentful) home life Amy received from Carol, mixed in with the anxiety/guilt/expectations that arose due to her power and the celebrity life that caused Amy to get all warped and latch onto the only thing that seemed to be good in her life. It adds a lot more complexity and depth to her character than if you simply go "Well, it was a powers thing".

Dunno whether it was fanon, canon or Word of God sort of thing though.

And that's why there is not a single fic that has Taylor joining the Wards that doesn't suck.

 

Meh, I find it very lazy to dump the blame on that solely or even mostly on the aura. It takes away from the inherent tragedy of the situation, imo. It shouldn't be one persons or one things fault. It's a super interesting and tragic plot point and as soon as it is blamed on the aura, you'll find that the solution for that can be found in someone's power set and that just sucks.

I'm not saying it can't be handled well, one story kinda did. One. The rest use this in a shit way, just to have someone, be it Taylor or their SI or some other proxy, lecture Victoria.

Maybe it's canon, although it certainly wasn't decreed so in story, but if it is, it's canon that should be ignored in fanfiction. Why be allowed to change almost everything else but that's the one thing one has to stick to?

As to the second point, sure, maybe it was interesting the first two times that happened in a fanfic, in a guilty pleasure way. The next 2 trillion times that exact same scenario happened, I wasn't particularly thrilled by it.

There can be nuance there, without slavishly sticking to the it-comes-to-a-fight scenario, before the obligatory apology by the Wards, the legal stuff in Piggot's office and Shadow Stalker either going to prison or being send to some shit outpost.

Just once I would like Sophia to not immediately attack and provoke Taylor when she sees her in the Protectorate HQ. To not say anything, knowing it will be a dumb idea to pick a fight right on the job. That Taylor doesn't blow a fuse or attack with her no doubt impressive alt powers that make her too valuable to risk alienating. That they grudgingly work together, neither willing to rock the boat. That there is tension when they fight others because neither is sure if the other isn't going to backstab them. That the other Wards notice the tension but have no idea what is going on.

You can do other stuff with it rather than follow that one formula that is floating around.

My gripes are mainly that those things I put in the bingo are almost always present in most fics. Heck, whenever there is Ward interaction, I'll guarantee it, you'll almost always have the Clockblocker cracks a joke and Vista hits him for it scene, as if there's a contractual obligation to put it in, even though it completely shits over Vista's characterization.

 

It is supposed to be a multilayered situation that powers, like always, made super complicated. And in fanfics they almost always ignore the other stuff. Either the Dallons are not present at all or they are heavily bashed.

A good Amy centric fanfic would have a lot of time to focus on all these issues. But how many Amy centric fanfics are there? If your protagonist is Taylor then well, unless you want your story to be as long as Worm itself, you'll cut these things down.

If you are just changing one aspect then, outside of the butterfly effect, it doesn't make sense for the others to change too. I mean, if in a fic Taylor gets some alternate power in the locker, it doesn't make sense that Amy isn't Glory-sexual (thanks yak). Most fics do start at the locker which is far too late to change Amy. I get that fanfics kick canon to the curb purely by being fanfics and certain situations are almost always handled terribly in fanfiction. But unless it's a full blown AU the other things and situations that happened before the beginning of your fanfic should remain the same.

I guess you're right about that.

Wildbow did say that's pretty much what would happen if Taylor did join the Wards. Sophia would not be sent away.

 

I really want more fics where SS and Taylor do the vigilante thing without knowing each other's identity like in Blood or Bug on a Wire.

 

I was curious about Amy being affected by Vicky's aura, so I looked it up. Wildbow sort of not really confirms it:

Thanks to Spacebattles Worm WoG repository thread.

 

My favourite Worm fic, Crime and Commitment, is edging that way except with Sophia having partnered up with the Undersiders on one instance (and looks like there could be more). Really looking forward to seeing how that goes. Well worth a read if you haven't yet.

Tyrant was an old alt!power fic that had nothing special about it except for the Shadow Stalker/Taylor friendship (without knowing who each other were) which I remember as being pretty enjoyable.

True.

I guess really what Nemrut and I are probably against is the fics that simplify it to that one predominant point. Someone (usually Tattletale) pointing it out and after that, realizing the problem makes fixing it reasonably easy for Amy (usually with her then pairing up with Taylor).

The only one I've really enjoyed was Absolution, and that was less due to the way it handled that aspect of the story and more just seeing Amy interact with Lisa and the Undersiders.

 

The thing I don't like about those situations is that Tattletale never reveals a secret in a way that makes it easy to fix. She always twists the metaphorical knife, if she gets the chance, which a lot of fanfic writers tend to flanderise out to make her less villainous.

 

I'm kind of tired of the Morally Righteous Protag lecturing Cauldron, to be honest... about how they have blood on their hands, their power potion testing, their leaving the horrors of Earth Bet be...

I would like, just once, where Cauldron goes back with a "That's nice... here's the thing. You know that there are multiple Earths, as far as our Thinkers can figure out, there are as many dimensions or realities as they are molecules in the Universe."

"Want to work out how many of those Earths are inhabited? We've done that. You're talking about one nation in one world among what is effectively countless worlds. When I said that we were doing this to save all of humanity. We didn't mean humanity in North America or even humanity on Earth Bet. We meant ALL of humanity."

"Tell me, what makes YOUR one world so special when there are so many more worlds in danger of being extinguished and all of humanity as a species being exterminated?"